HKFP Lens: Indonesia’s Toraja, the land celebrating the living dead – Part 1

Published
2024/07/13 11:00 (CST)

By Ayesha Sitara

The Torajans are a hill tribe in Indonesia that continues to believe in animistic funeral rites and keeping the dead “alive” at home until rituals are complete.

💡Note: This gallery contains graphic images of human remains and animal slaughter.

The welcoming party to a buffalo sacrifice as part of funeral rituals in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.

While most people across the world bury or burn the dead soon after death, the Torajans keep their dead in a coffin at home until a buffalo is sacrificed. Hence families spend their entire lives saving up to buy a buffalo that can cost millions of rupiah. This can sometimes take years, and during that time the dead are cared for like a sick person and offered food, water, and regular conversation.

A wife sits beside her dead husband’s coffin in her bedroom in Tana Toraja. He has been dead for ten months and continues to live with her as she has not yet sacrificed a buffalo in his honour. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.

Although many Torajans converted to Christianity under Dutch rule, funeral rites continue to be conducted in their ancestral way, which includes communal feasting, dancing, animal sacrifices, bullfighting, and cockfighting.

A buffalo sacrifice in Tana Toraja. A buffalo must be slaughtered as part of Rambu Solo, the funeral rituals of Torajans. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.

After the celebrations, the dead are buried in family vaults – ancient ones such as caves and boulders, or modern concrete ones. Since they believe in the afterlife, the dead body is buried with material possessions, especially those favoured in this life.

Family members attend a funeral service for a dead relative in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.

For much of the world, death often symbolises a sad separation from our loved ones and funerals are a solemn affair. But in Toraja, death is honoured in the physical landscape as well as daily lives.

Boys in traditional Torajan textiles and dress in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.

The animals that are sacrificed are shared by hundreds of guests, and the various funeral rituals help the local economy. Tourists are even warmly welcomed to attend these personal occasions, as Torajans believe the more the guests at the funeral, the more respect and honour for the dead.

A funeral procession of family members and relatives in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.

Stay tuned for Part 2, tomorrow.

A woman harvests rice in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Women in straw hats at a funeral service in Tana Toraja. Torajan funeral festivities are held between July and September annually, during the dry harvest season. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
A Torajan woman attends an animal sacrifice as part of the funeral festivities in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
A musician plays the “saluang” a traditional bamboo flute at a funeral service in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
The buffalo market in Pasar Bolu, Tana Toraja. Buffalo prices are hefty and families can spend entire lives saving up to buy one which is later slaughtered at the funeral service. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Torajans believe that only when a buffalo is slaughtered at a funeral service the dead person’s soul will reach Puya or afterlife. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Sometimes more than one buffalo is sacrificed to honour the dead in Tana Toraja depending on their class in society. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
A sacrificed albino buffalo in Tana Toraja. Big horns and albino buffaloes generally command a higher price in Pasar Bolu, the buffalo market. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
A slaughtered buffalo pulled away to be butchered in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Skinning before butchering a buffalo for a funeral feast in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
No meat is wasted and spare uncooked meat is shared amongst the relatives attending the funeral service which they take back home to their villages dotted around Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Sacrificed pigs in Tana Toraja. Besides buffaloes, pigs are also sacrificed. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
The sacrificial meat is mixed with local herbs and cooked inside bamboo poles over make shift fires in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Guests and relatives feasting on the sacrificial meat at a funeral service in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
The feasting at a Torjan funeral service is paired with some local Tuak, a palm tree alcoholic beverage. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Not only guests but butchers, drivers, helpers, cooks, volunteers, guides, tourists and every one gathered at the funeral service help themselves to some Tuak in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
The hide of the buffalo is skinned and later converted into leather in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Two little girls inspect animal hideskins drying out in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Two boys carry the horns of a sacrificed buffalo in Tana Toraja. They will be cleaned and dried out. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.
Buffalo horns are used to decorate the exterior of a house knows as Tongkanan in Tana Toraja. Photo: Ayesha Sitara.

Ayesha Sitara is a documentary photographer based in Hong Kong. She has published work in Gestalten, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Hindu, HarpersCollins, Asia Times, SCMP and Wall to Wall Media UK (Documentaries) to name a few. She received honourable mention at the 19th Pollux Awards and her photos were exhibited at Fotonostrum Gallery in Barcelona. She is a member of Cathay Camera Club in Hong Kong and winner of its annual exhibition in 2022.

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